Formula One designer is helping Bates get ready for new season

NEED FOR SPEED: Andy Bates, pictured in 2011 after impressing Peter Jones to win investment on BBC's Dragons' Den, has used some of the money earned to employ former Formula One designer Enrique Scalabroni

Formula One designer Enrique Scalabroni has been giving his support to a Buxhall-based motorsport company as they prepare to launch a new car.

Enrique Scalabroni — who has worked for the Championship-winning Ferrari and Williams F1 teams, as well as Team Lotus — has been helping Andy Bates’ AB Performance (ABP) with the company’s new G2 Sabre.

Bates took his race car project to BBC television’s Dragons’ Den in 2011 and the investment received from entrepreneur Peter Jones helped bring in Scalabroni.

Investment is a word often associated with the world of motorsport and, when Jones offered to provide just that, Bates was quick to accept.

ABP had launched its Sabre Sports Racing Car to contest the 750 MC’s RGB Championship, a championship already sponsored by the business.

The car was well received, but now it has been upgraded and the new G2 Sabre is about to make an appearance.

Thanks to the investment from Jones, the Buxhall workshops have seen the visit of Scalabroni — a well-known figure from the world of Grand Prix racing.

The Argentinian arrived at the highest level of motorsport in 1985 and his 29 years of expertise is finding its way to the Sabre project.

During 2014, Sabres will be seen contesting the RGB Championship — which ABP will not sponsor this year — and the Swiss Hillclimb Championship, while a Swiss dealership for the cars will be opened. There are indeed exciting times ahead for ABP and few people deserve success more than Andy Bates.